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Sourcebooks CEO and Publisher replies
July 16, 2009 | 9:16 am
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By Paul Biba
As you all know the decision by Sourcebooks to delay the ebook copy of upcoming title Bran Hambric has caused a good deal of controversy and comment. Now, Kassia Krozer of Booksquare has published an article by Sourcebooks CEO and Publisher about why she made the decision she did. It’s well worth your reading in full.
Given David’s “Naptsterized” comment below, I thought I reprint this little section of the article:
.. But the new music model of low-priced content and sales of concerts and ancillaries is probably not a viable model for book publishing. Authors, unlike musicians, don’t typically have paid live performances (and t-shirt sales are usually few). They have words. And we need to have a real conversation about what those words are worth (and that’s what the pricing issue is actually about) and how do we keep them worth enough to support authors, authorship and publishers. And yes, we can (and I suspect will) have a conversation about whether that last piece is worth supporting and at what level. …
I would also argue that music is absolutely not the right model to compare books and book publishing to. And newspapers are even less appropriate. However, that’s a really long conversation, and I’m a publisher not a pundit. We should make the choices that are right for our authors and their readers.
Congrats, Kassia, on a great coup!
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Comments:
Except her reasoning won’t work with an increasingly common e-reader philosophy of “I want to read this novel today. Offer it to me legally or I will get it free elsewhere. Either way, it’s going to be in my reading device today.”
Seriously, many of us don’t and never will purchase a HC or PB book again. I haven’t in over 5 years now where before, I would buy up to 20 books a month in PB. This outdated policy simply is going to hurt the publisher and author more because people who read PB/HC are more likely now to be exclusive from those that read E-versions. Not many flip-flop back and forth depending on book availability. So in the end, I believe that you won’t loose money by offering both HC and E-versions at the same time. Even if you are concerned about a price differential, then be honest and simply cut the price of the printing, shipping, storage or any other logistical costs of the HC book and use that as the price for the E-version. If this doesn’t jive with amazon’s kindle, then sell the E-version elsewhere since there are lots of e-sellers. Come on Kassia, stop being really stupid and think – you are after all, supposed to be a publisher…
@Mark don’t you mean ” come on Dominique, stop being really stupid…?”
@Tim, yes, embarassingly I goofed there. Bad me, bad me. Sorry Kassia, got the names mixed up. Kind of like a publisher proofed e-book.
I believe we can sell eBooks at non-trivial prices. I don’t see any reason why a publisher shouldn’t, as Mark suggests, price an eBook at hardback price less a small discount to reflect cost savings in not printing, warehousing, etc. As long as the profit is the same, who cares whether you’re selling timber or electrons? I do respect Kassia’s concern that the notion that eBooks must be priced somewhere near zero is used to justify piracy and, scanners not-withstanding, it is easier to pirate eBooks than pBooks.
Publishers have a right to their business models. If that model includes early-release premium pricing (the BooksForABuck.com model is the opposite…early-release discount pricing, the same model used by Fictionwise but that doesn’t make one model right or wrong), eBooks should be included in that model. Delaying eBook release seems to me the worse sin than high eBook pricing.
Rob Preece
BooksForABuck
I agree with Mark. I simply do not have the space to store so many print books. And I loathe clutter. For me, ebooks have been a godsend for that reason. In fact, I am about to move, and the first thing I did was get a big box and go through my remaining fiction paperbacks one by one. If it was available at Fictionwise, I chucked it in the box on the premise of ‘if I really do want to read this book again, I will buy the e-version so I can keep it forever. If I don’t want to read it again, it will stay on my wish list out of my way.”
It’s not ‘you’ll lose a print sale to an e-sale.’ It’s ‘you will lose a sale period, as I will get the print copy from the library if you don’t have an e-version to sell me.’ And that’s true for many e-readers I know. Publishers may want things to be different, but at some point, they are going to have to change their mindset and realize that the only way to get a customer’s money is to sell what they want to buy. They’ll lose more money by not selling legitimate e-versions to loyal, paying customers than they will to the mythical ‘pirates’ they are so afraid of.
I think the decision was a wise one, but not for the reasons she gives.
The real market the publishers want to protect is that of the bookstores and (mostly) the big chains. I have little doubt that the big chains are getting angry as more Kindles are sold, and the kindle edition retails for less than their wholesale price.
The Publisher actually makes more money off the Kindle 9.99 edition than they make off the 20.00 hardcover, when you consider discounts and returns. The Kindle edition gives Publisher 7.00 for every copy sold — and there are no returns to reduce that amount.
Thus the only worry for Publisher is that Kindle sales eat into hardcover sales (no net loss, actually a boost in profits, but…) and that the Kindle sales mean higher returns, retribution by the big chains (“We won’t carry your books if they are cheaper on Kindle; we will stock half as many copies,” etc) which, on the whole, in the total reckoning, might mean lower net revenues on any given book.
Allowing for a ‘clearance’ of 6 months before releasing the Kindle edition solves this. The chains are mollified; Kindle readers still get their ebook editions, if they just wait; ardent fans will buy the hardcovers.
I also disagree with her about ‘publishing is not like music’ — the only real difference is that the vast majority of music fans will gladly listen to digital editions of songs, but the vast majority of readers still prefer paper editions because, they think, ‘I could never curl up with a computer screen.’ The Kindle and Sony Reader and others (but mostly the Kindle) is starting to change that.
The policy of ‘clearances’ may well prove wise in the short run — I’d really have to seen figures on an apples-apples comparison basis to make up my mind there, but I respect any Publisher who chooses this path — however, in the long run, Publishers must make peace with digital and ebooks, just as newspapers and music labels. They are all in the same boat, in the long run.
The only thing that can save them from the superior technology is if they can capture enough corrupt and short-sighted or foolish legislators to give them new monopoly laws and harsh copyright restrictions, such as watermarking all printed books and including ‘v-chip’ style protection on all computers, ebook readers, and smartphones.
@pond – I think you are comparing apples and oranges. E-versions simply are not the same as HC versions. I can’t see either version eating into the other versions sales. E-readers don’t buy HC fiction books and HC fiction book buyers don’t buy e-books. Thus, the wait for “clearance” doesn’t serve any purpose other to annoy paying customers who will vote with their keyboards.
Sorry to burst your generalization, Mark – but I *do* buy both ebooks and hardcovers. Sometimes the same titles (if I really like the book), although not both at once.
For me, the selling point for ebooks isn’t about the clutter (although that is a plus). It’s about the convenience of having my library (well, part of it) with me when and where I want it. In a waiting room. In an airport. On vacation.
So, is a publisher “losing” a hardcover sale when I buy an ebook edition? Maybe. So what? If they’ve priced it appropriately, it shouldn’t matter.
But there’s the rub; one of the points the CEO made is that they *don’t* control the retail pricing for ebooks, just the timing. The publishers are deathly scared that they’ll lose control (to Amazon, or whomever) just like the music labels did with Apple.
One option is to sell direct, cutting out the retailer; Baen does this, and it seems to be working for them. But I don’t think it really makes sense for every publisher to become their own retail outlet. Too fragmented, and frankly I don’t know that most of the publishers would be good at it. Plus, it puts them in competition with their own existing retail channel (to some extent).
Another option is to include an ebook edition with the hardcover purchase. Baen has done that a few times too. That isn’t very attractive to clutter-sensitive customers, though, and it lacks the immediate gratification of a digital download.
For all that I disagree with the decision Sourcebooks made, I have to give them some credit: they are at least experimenting, looking for a long-term model that will work. Too many publishers seem to be just hoping the problem will go away.